The Larkin Construction Mural

 This is probably the best mural I have done.  It was commissioned by the Larkin Construction company of the Tampa Bay area.  This company would prepare the land for the construction of new housing developments, primarily east of Tampa Bay.

The mural was in the conference/break room, it measures 4 feet high and 25 feet long. My own background in construction helped a lot in creating this mural.  I went on site several times gathering reference material and talking to the workers.

The mural tells the story of how the land is prepared for a new development.  This particular development was several hundred acres.  They story starts on the right side of the mural and goes to the left.  In Florida, because the soil is so sandy, before housing can be built, at least four feet of the sandy soil has to be scraped away down to what is called hardpack. Then the supporting superstructure below the ground level surface has to be dug in and installed.  This was the job of the Larkin company.

After the land is cleared the water pipes and the sewage system is installed. The first section of the mural below shows the blue pipes for the water and the big concrete pieces for the sewage and water drainage systems.  In the background are the big Caterpillar earth movers clearing the land. 

The big bulldozers at work.

I really love how I was able to capture these machines at work.

A big job getting the water pump systems in and working correctly.

The job ends with everything covered up and the roads laid out and ready to pave.